Thing 8: Stretch!
My students love Wikipedia, and always ask if they can use it as a source. We’ve had discussions about the validity and reliability of public editing and about appropriate sources. In truth, Wikipedia is a great place to start online thinking. You get a quick and dirty overview, pictures, and further references. It looks good.
Last year, I looked up “Grizzly Bears” on Wikipedia, and I WISH I had saved what I found. The article said the primary food of grizzlies included Nazis and Klansmen! I will never know why I didn’t hit Print Screen. Silly me, I thought it would still be there the next day, and it was late, tah dah, tah dah…. Well, the next day it was gone, thanks to Wikipedia’s quick response to editing efforts.
What I had never explored on Wikipedia were the Discussions and History sections. That was great and will help me explain to my students why Wikipedia can be both good and suspect at the same time. Previous posts could be explored and the authors exposed–from the esteemed to the “also ran.” Interesting. I’ll use those sections to help my students learn more about reliable sources!
Filed under: Learning K12 2.0 and tagged discussion, history, Wikipedia
One Response to “Thing 8: Stretch!”
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Love the story about “Grizzly Bears” Collaboration sites definitely help self-correct erroneous data. I do wonder, however, if facts get distorted since anyone can put their two-cents worth in a wiki. I’m sure even the wiki editors would have differing views on how dangerous grizzly bears are to people. Here’s a link to my wiki: http://mmew.edublogs.org/